Redwood Area Theater to perform two shows this summer

Thursday

May 8, 2014 at 12:01 AM

Auditions for “The Music Man” will be held May 15 and 16 in the RVHS choir room.

This summer the Redwood Area Theatre will be preforming its 20th annual musical, the well-known production “The Music Man”, and there’s a place in River City for you. The story features fast-talking traveling salesman “Professor” Harold Hill arriving in River City, Iowa, a town hesitant to let strangers in -- especially ones trying to sell something. Hill’s con: selling band instruments, uniforms, and the idea of starting a boys band to keep local youth out of trouble in dens of sin such as pool halls. Marian Paroo, local librarian and part-time piano teacher, is not so easily convinced, and sets out to prove Harold is a fraud. Will Harold escape River City free of tar and feathers? Will the boys band succeed? Enjoy this delightful piece of Americana that includes such memorable songs as Ya Got Trouble, Seventy-Six Trombones, The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl, Lida Rose, Marian the Librarian, Pick-a-Little, and Til There Was You. “The Music Man” will be directed by Josh Johnson, BA in Theater Arts at SMSU, returning after his successful work on “Into the Woods” last year. The 2014 performance dates are Thursday, July 17, Friday, July 18, and Saturday, July 19 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, July 20 at 2 p.m. in the Estebo Performing Arts Center in the Redwood Valley High School in Redwood Falls. Auditions for “The Music Man” are set for Thursday, May 15 and Friday, May 16 at 5:30 p.m., in the Redwood Valley High School choir room. If you’re not comfortable going onstage, R.A.T. can use your skills in many other ways. A few hours on tasks like constructing sets or sewing costumes will always be helpful. If you can hold a hammer or paintbrush, sew a button, or show audience members to their seats, there’s a place on “The Music Man” for you. The Redwood Area Theatre is actually putting on two shows this summer. In addition to “The Music Man”, the Childrens Theatre will feature a play for students from second through eighth grade. Rehearsals are set for June 9-13 from 9 a.m. until noon, for a 7 p.m. June 13 performance in the Estebo Performing Arts Center in Redwood Falls. It’s not to late to sign your children up for the performance. On May 15, the participants of the Childrens Theatre production will meet director Jessa Roberts for a run-through. If you haven’t signed up for the Children Theatre yet, you can still sign up then at the Redwood Valley High School at that point.